For two days I’ve been traveling on a short road-trip with my family in Upstate New York. As far as this turning to a medical lesson, all I can say is that for the first time in my life I witnessed, first-hand, the vaguely digital, elongate and eponymous geography of the fine Finger Lakes.

morning view, by Seneca Lake

It’s beautiful around here. I’ve found it a fine place to get some reading and writing done, besides taking in some local college scenery. While here, we had the opportunity to review some New York State’s history and, in one memorable moment for yours truly, stopped briefly in the village of Seneca Falls.

There, in 1848 a group of local women, mainly Quakers, organized an early convention here on the topic of women’s rights. Some 300 progressives attended the Seneca Falls Convention. Among those pioneering lady leaders – feminists if you will – were Jane Hunt, whose home we visited today, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Approximately 40 men attended, including Frederick Douglass, a former slave and then-editor of an abolitionist newspaper, the North Star, published in Rochester.

Which takes me back to this blog’s communication theme. We’ll be home again, in NYC, late tomorrow, and I’ve got an early class to teach on Wednesday morning.

What this means, dear readers, is that summer’s over and we’ve got to bet back to hard Medical Lessons. We’ll cover more serious stuff, for a while at least and for the most part – journal articles, some new science and, well, learning about diseases, pathology, and how we might treat some of those.